Retribution
by littlemissprincess721
Summary: N: Punishment that is considered morally right and fully deserved.Emily deals with a fairly straightfoward case, but when the going gets tough how will the team help her and eachother? Part of the Littlest CSI series. Spoilers for the episode: Deviant S4.
1. Murder in the Park

Hey everyone! Here's the next story in the Littlest CSI series. Involves Emily in the episode 'Deviant'. Elements of humor are included, as well as Emily's perspective on events. Hope ya like it!

Thanks so much to KatieC! Don't know what I would do without her!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in CSI: Miami. They all belong to CBS and whatnot. I'm just borrowing them for fun. FUN not profit. Don't sue me. All that is mine her is Emily.

Okay I think that does it! Hope ya'll like!

Miami's Fall sunshine beat down on Horatio Caine as he walked up to the body lying in the middle of the park.

"Alexx, what do you have there?" He asked, turning to ME, Alexx Woods, who was doing a primary examination of the body.

"This man was beaten to a pulp. I've got multiple fractured ribs, and dermal abrasions."

"Name is Philip Gordon," Detective Frank Tripp said with a nod towards the body. "I ran a background check. He's a registered sex offender. His face was plastered all over a large number of websites."

"That gives us a very large suspect pool," Horatio replied. "Alexx, did you know this man was a registered sex offender?"

"Yes," she replied, shaking her head. "My kids play in this park."

She turned back to body, carefully examining the victim's torso.

"Horatio, I think I know what killed him. He's got a stab wound in his torso."

"That narrows our suspects down to one," Horatio said thoughtfully.

Horatio looked around the park. Eric, Emily, and Ryan were hard at work processing the scene.

"Eric!" Emily yelled. "I've got a blood trail!"

Eric looked up from where he was photographing directional blood drops found on the victim's shoes. He walked over to Emily, who was following the trail and photographing each drop of blood. After a short time they reached a playground.

"The trail stops here," she said, looking around the swing set.

"I've got something," Eric said, kneeling down to take a closer look.

Emily walked over. Eric was taking pictures of a child's cell phone.

"Let's go find Horatio," he said.

"Fine," Emily replied, "But I get to show him the phone."

"I found it!" Eric protested.

"You wouldn't have found it if I hadn't found the blood trail," she challenged.

"Emily, I am perfectly capable of finding a blood trail on my own thanks!"

They continued to bicker until they reached Horatio and Tripp, who were deep in discussion. Emily reached around Eric and snatched the bagged cell phone. She smiled sweetly at Eric, and marched up to Horatio.

"I found this at the end of a blood trail," she announced. Eric shook his head and went to join Ryan, who had found something across the park.

"A child's cell phone." Horatio said, taking the bag.

"Yeah, these things usually have 911 and their parent's number on speed dial." Tripp interrupted.

"Okay, let's check that out and see what comes up."

Emily nodded and marched over to Ryan's Hummer. She carefully took the SIM card out of the phone and plugged it in to the laptop Ryan had in his trunk. She ran reverse trace on the numbers and found an address. She put the Cell Phone back together and carefully put it in its bag. She ran back to Horatio.

"H!"

"Yes?"

"The number gave us the address of one, Victor Terraza. He lives just around the corner."

"Good. Emily, would you like to come with me and talk to him?"

"Sure."


	2. Interrogation Tactics

Victor Terraza faced Horatio Caine's piercing stare with trepidation. When the Lieutenant had shown his badge Victor had been nervous, but when caught in the man's stare; he could only describe it as truly unsettling.

Horatio studied the man before him and immediately deduced that he had something to hide. He decided he would take a gentle approach; he had come to return his daughter's cell phone and to ask what it was doing at the scene. A non-threatening approach would help make the man relax a little bit. After Horatio had Terraza relaxed he would go from there.

Emily didn't like Victor Terraza right away. She didn't know what she didn't like; she just knew there was something that…wasn't quite right here.

"Mr. Terraza, we found your daughter's cell phone at the park. I was just wondering what it was doing there," Horatio looked into the man's eyes; he could see that he was uncomfortable.

"I have no idea, Lieutenant Caine, I took her to the playground yesterday, perhaps it dropped out of her pocket," Victor Terraza replied tersely. He reached out his hand to take the phone, "Thank you for returning it, I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Horatio pulled the phone farther from the man's grasp. "Your daughter's cell phone is part of a current investigation, Mr. Terraza; I just find it strange that your daughter's cell phone was found near the dead body of sex offender." He tilted his head to the side; Victor Terraza knew more than he was saying.

Emily looked at the two men. Her boss was skewering the other man with a penetrating stare that was starting to unnerve her. She was used to Horatio's interrogating tactics, but she could understand why the man was nervous.

"You wanna know?" Victor said, shifting and crossing his arms. "Some man tried to grab my daughter. I yelled at him to leave her alone so he ran. I saw some other guys chasing him."

"Did you follow them?" Emily asked.

Victor looked at her skeptically before turning back to Horatio. "I stayed behind to protect Isabel."

Emily glared silently at the suspect. Once again, she had been ignored because she was a kid. Her hands balled up into fists and she tensed in anger. She opened her mouth to say something, but Horatio's restraining hand on her shoulder stopped her. She curbed her temper, and allowed Horatio to speak.

"May I speak to your daughter?" Horatio said, nodding towards Isabel, who was playing with a teddy bear on a bench in the yard.

Victor nodded and stepped aside.

Emily followed Horatio as he walked over to the daughter.

"Hello Isabel." He said with a gentle smile.

Isabel looked up and smiled, taken by Horatio's gentle demeanor right away.

Emily shook her head in amazement. Horatio was amazing with children. If he and Calleigh had children someday, she knew he would be a wonderful father.

"Can you tell me what happened when you went to the park this morning?"

In the end, the interview with Isabel and Terraza didn't prove very fruitful. Isabel only confirmed her father's story. However, Emily and Horatio had found blood clearly visible on Isabel's clothes. They had taken the clothes to be processed, but for now they had nothing on Terraza.

Emily and Horatio arrived back at the lab. Horatio assigned Emily the job of processing Isabel's clothes.

He found Calleigh walking down the hall with some pictures.

"Horatio, I'm glad I found you!" She said as she walked up, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I found distinct impressions on the Vic's cheek. Looks like a shoe print. I'm going to run it."

"Get back to me with whatever you find," Horatio said with a nod.

Calleigh grinned and winked. "You know I will."

Ryan walked up, holding an evidence container. Horatio stopped him.

"How are things coming Mr. Wolfe?"

"Great. I got some trace out of the victim's hair. I'm going to drop it off now," Ryan said.

Horatio smiled. "Good. Let me know what comes up."

Horatio sighed. There would be nothing for another hour or so. He decided to catch up on more paperwork to pass the time.

His pager interrupted him about an hour after he started the paperwork. Emily and Ryan were calling him to the Trace lab.


	3. Window Displays

Horatio was headed back to the interview room where Victor Terraza had been brought back. The trace in the victim's hair and on Isabel's clothes was fertilizer, from the park grass. Calleigh had gotten back to him on the shoe print, which was from a 2006 Transverse Five Star. Emily had immediately spoken up when they had all met in the fingerprint lab, saying Terraza's shoes were Transverses, and she would recognize those shoes anywhere.

"How?" Ryan had asked.

"I have to pass the Footlocker store on my way to American Eagle at the mall. Those things are in every display in the windows," Emily said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Emily's knowledge of the window displays at the mall had paid off. Terraza was indeed wearing shoes that matched the prints.

Horatio sighed as he opened the interview room. It was time to stop letting Terraza feel relaxed and start seriously questioning the man.

Frank followed him, ready to help.

"Mr. Terraza, welcome," Horatio said, taking his customary stance by the window.

"Why am I here?"

"You want to tell us what really happened at the park this morning, Mr. Terraza?" Tripp said, facing the suspect.

"I told you, I was with Isabel the whole time. I didn't touch the man."

"Victor, you are lying to me and you know it," Horatio said, turning slowly.

"Let's try this again," Tripp picked up. "What really happened at the park this morning?"

Victor looked from Horatio to Tripp and back, shifting slightly.

"Okay. I recognized the guy from the posters. When I saw him looking at my daughter, I went after him with some other dads. We gave him a little beating, that's all."

Horatio stepped outside the interview room and pulled out his cell phone.

"Eric, grab Ryan and Emily and go back to that neighborhood."


	4. An Opprotunity to Make 5 Bucks

Chapter 4!

"So, what are we looking for exactly?" Ryan asked as he, Eric, and Emily piled out of the Hummer.

"Posters," said Emily, getting out her Crime light.

Eric nodded. "Emily, Ryan, take the left side. I'll look over here."

They split up and began searching.

"Ryan, look," Emily said. She was standing next to a tree.

"Staples with little shreds of paper," Ryan said as he got out his camera.

"Someone ripped these posters out," said Emily. She grinned mischievously. "Betcha I can find one before you do."

"How much?" Ryan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Five bucks," Emily said, still grinning.

"You're on!" Said Ryan.

They searched frantically for over half an hour, when Eric yelled for them.

They jogged over to the other side of the street.

"I've got a poster," he said.

Emily's face fell.

"What?" Said Eric looking confused.

Ryan grinned. "Emily just lost an opportunity to make five bucks."

Emily rolled her eyes. Eric shook his head.

"Whatever. Maybe we can lift prints off this thing."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emily stared at the computer in shock as she looked at the results from the prints that had been lifted from the picture.

_What? _

She couldn't believe what the computer screen read:

ALEXX WOODS

Horatio walked into the print lab.

"Emily, do you have those results for me?" He asked quietly.

Emily didn't answer. She just stared at the computer screen. He took a closer look at her face and noticed how shockingly pale she looked.

He walked over and placed a careful hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Emily just swallowed and nodded slowly. She clutched the table until her knuckles were white.

Horatio looked at the computer and suddenly knew what had Emily so pale.

He tore his eyes away from the computer and back to his silent CSI.

"Hey. I'm going to go talk to her. I'm sure everything is okay. Alright?"

Emily managed another nod and turned back to her work, still silent. He walked out without another glance at his young CSI. He knew she would be all right.


	5. Porwhato?

Chapter 5

"So I made a few posters. What's wrong with that? I saw this guy on the website and thought people should be warned. I was just trying to protect my children." Alexx stated, defensively.

Horatio rested his arms on the table and turned his head to stare at her quietly.

"Wait…Horatio?" She asked, a look of horror slowly spreading across her face. "Could I be charged criminally with this?"

Horatio stood up slowly. He looked at Alexx reassuringly.

"An aggressive attorney might move for a civil suit."

He left Alexx, determined to find the murderer and get his kind ME out of trouble.

Meanwhile, Calleigh, Ryan and Emily were on a computer, looking at known sex offenders in the area.

Emily was seated between the two, her feet propped up comfortably on the desk, eating some Edy's Dibs.

"Oh my God," Calleigh suddenly said, leaning forward. "There's one on my block?"

"You gonna move?" Emily joked, popping another Dib into her mouth.

"No, but I'll definitely keep my gun a little closer at night," Calleigh said.

Ryan sighed and crossed his arms. "I think Alexx went too far."

Calleigh looked at him with raised eyebrows. Emily threw another Dib in the air and caught it with her mouth.

"Ryan, she was protecting her children and alerting other parents to the fact that there was a known sex offender around the neighborhood. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

"I still think she crossed a line," Ryan said.

"I would cross a line to protect my children," Calleigh replied.

Emily just rolled her eyes and popped another Dib. A tense silence enveloped the room.

"Why don't we just agree to disagree on this one?" Calleigh finally said with a smile.

"Fine," said Ryan.

All three of their pagers beeped. They left the room, and Emily reluctantly left her Dibs.

Later that day, Horatio sent Emily to the AV lab, to get results of the source on the porn on Philip Gordon's computer.

"So, Dan," Emily asked as she stood behind him. "How do we trace this?"

"Well I've already found out that is a pornado bomb." Danstarted.

"Wait..." Emily said, with a confused glance at Cooper. "Por-what-o!"

"Pornado." Dan said, with a grin. "It's like a porn virus in email. The more you try to stop it, the more it multiplies."

"Right..." Emily said, still looking slightly confused.

Dan shook his head and and continued with his explanation.

"Anyway,someone was trying to set this guy up. I can trace the internet source route to find out the original sender." Dan said.

He turned to the keyboard and began to type furiously. The computer beeped.

"Ned Ostroff." Emily read.

She walked out in the hall and found Horatio at the end of it speaking to Stetler.

"Horatio!" She yelled. He turned and smiled kindly, wordlessly dismissing Stetler, who still managed to look very angry.

"Yes?"

"The pornado on Gordon's computer was sent by a Ned Ostroff."

"Thank you. I'll go get him." He said patting Emily's shoulder.

Emily smiled and bounced off to the break room.


	6. If you ever

I"M BACK!

Sorry for the delay. I've been having some issues with school and my health.

Tell me you missed me by reviewing.

Thanks again to KatieC!

Horatio entered the interview room, with Tripp following close behind him.

"Ned," he said, gently sitting down. "You sent a porn bomb to Philip Gordon's computer."

Ned looked at him innocently. "Okay I did. But the porn wasn't mine. I'm not a pedophile." He said, immediately on the defensive.

"You want to tell me why you sent it then?"

"Look," Ned said leaning forward slightly. "I moved to the Gables after I was released. I cleaned up, turned my life around. No one knew who I was and I could live in peace. Then the posters go up and people are visiting the FDLE website. My name comes up and I start getting harassed. I sent the porn to try…"

Suddenly a knock interrupted them. Horatio turned. Emily stood in the doorway.

"Can I see you when you're done?" She asked.

"Yes," he said with a smile. "Meet me in the break room okay?"

Emily nodded and walked out.

Horatio turned back to Ned, who had his eyes fixed on Emily's retreating form, a strange look on his face. He tensed as the anger started to build up inside him and fixed his eyes back on Ned with a steely glare.

"Ned," he said in an icy tone. "Do you want to continue?"

Ned seemed to snap out of it. "Oh. Yes. Anyway, I sent the porn to scare him away. I didn't think he would be killed. I didn't even look at it!"

"Ned," Horatio replied as he stood up. "You didn't have to."

He paused glaring at the convicted sex offender before him.

"If you _ever_ look at her like that again, I'll find a way to put you away for a long time."

Ned looked up in shock. "What?"

Horatio looked back at the man, disgust showing clearly in his blue eyes. "So much for cleaning up your act."


	7. A quick nap

Emily was on her way to her locker later that day, looking for something to do. There was a lull in the case for now. She had already finished everything Horatio had told her to do, and had spoken to him about the death threats found on Philip Gordon's computer. Now everyone else was busy and she was bored.

She sighed as she reached her locker and pulled out her sketchbook and some pencils. She walked back to the break room and sat at the table. She rifled through the sketchbook until she found an empty page.

She picked up a pencil and began to draw an outline. The outline quickly shaped itself into two people, talking and laughing. She smiled as she bent lower over the sketch and began to fill in and shade it eagerly. She smiled as she leaned back to examine her work.

It was a sketch of Eric and Ryan the day Ryan had played a prank on the entire lab with exploding pens. Eric had Ryan in a chokehold and they were both laughing.

Ryan walked in. "What're you working on?" He asked, leaning over her shoulder to examine her work.

He stepped back after a minute. "That's good."

Emily blushed. "Thanks. Did you get anything out of the delivery notice at the Gordon's house?"

Ryan sighed. "No. Mrs. Gordon said she walked through the park on her way to see the doctor. The alibi checks out."

"Where do we go from here?" Emily said with a frown.

Ryan only shrugged. Emily sighed and walked into the hall, meaning to find Horatio to see if there was anything she could work on.

Emily looked up. There was some commotion at the front desk.

"I need to see Lieutenant Caine!" A rather large man in a blue shirt was yelling at a secretary.

Emily ran up, recognizing the man as Ned Ostroff, the suspect they had brought in earlier.

"Sir!" She yelled running up. "Sir!"

Ned looked up. "Finally!" He shouted as he grabbed her shoulders.

"Where is Lieutenant Caine?" He asked, shaking her roughly.

"I'm right here, Ned, and I suggest you get your hands off my CSI, right now," Horatio said as he stood calmly behind Ned.

Emily stumbled back, landing on her butt, as Ned released her suddenly. Horatio gave Ned a look and helped Emily up.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Emily nodded and swallowed, looking at Mr. Ostroff with trepidation. "I'm good."

Horatio smiled. "Go back to the break room. I'll be there in a minute."

Emily nodded and obeyed walking off.

Horatio turned back to Ned.

"Ned, what's wrong?"

"Someone tried to kill me!" Ned shouted.

"Ned," Horatio said calmly. "I need you to calm down and go into that interview room right now, so we can talk about this."

Emily walked back to the break room and plopped down on a chair, closing her eyes and waiting for Horatio to finish talking to Ned. Hopefully when he finished they would have something to go on.

Horatio stepped into the break room 15 minutes later hoping to find Ryan. He instead found Emily fast asleep on the couch. She was curled up in a tight ball and shivering slightly.

He walked over to the couch and pulled a blanket out of a basket on the side. He carefully covered Emily with it and left, intent on finding Ryan.


	8. Frustration

Deviant Chapter 8

"Emily. Emily, wake up!" A distant voice said.

Emily just groaned and rolled over.

A hand began to shake her shoulder. "Come on Emily, Horatio has something for us!"

She swatted at the offending hand. "Go away," she mumbled.

"Emily!" The voice said again as the shaking became more persistent.

She blearily opened her eyes and sat up to find Eric in front of her.

"What is it?"

Eric smiled. "The evidence led us back to Terraza again. They found a knife on him. We need to go to the morgue and see if the knife matches."

Emily nodded slowly and looked down. "Who put this here?" She asked as she got up and began folding up the blanket.

"I don't know," Eric replied. "It was on you when I got here."

Emily nodded slowly and put the blanket back in its basket. She followed Eric down to the morgue.

"This isn't your knife," Alexx said as she inspected the weapon they had found on Terraza.

Emily frowned. "How can that be?"

"This knife would have left a clean symmetrical incision. The edges of your Vic's wound are jagged, suggesting a serrated blade."

Emily raised her eyes to the ceiling with a groan. This case seemed to be leading them to dead end after dead end.

Alexx smiled at Emily's frustration. "I did find a minor secondary knife wound, however."

Eric and Emily examined the wound carefully.

"Alright. I think we should look at his clothes, see what we can find. You coming, Em?" Eric asked.

Alexx smiled. "Emily is going to stay here and talk to me for a little bit."

Emily looked surprised, but nodded at Eric. Alexx watched him leave and then turned to Emily.

"You seem frustrated," she stated, as she documented some bruises on the vic.

Emily nodded. "I am. I don't know; I just hate dead ends. This case has been a bit annoying."

Alexx smiled. "I know how that can be, but with this job you can't let that discourage you. You just have to keep working, sugar."

Emily sighed. "I know."

Alexx looked at her sternly. "Then perk up a bit."

Alexx stern look changed to a smile. "I am rather proud of you though. You're doing well."

Emily smiled. "Thanks Alexx."

She left the morgue feeling slightly better, and ready to tackle the next part of the case.


	9. Confusion

Emily found Eric quickly. He was heading for the elevators.

She reached out and grabbed his arm, but he was walking so fast that he jerked her forward. She tripped and fell on her face.

Eric stopped and looked back at Emily, who was looking up at him from the floor. He rolled his eyes and gave her a little dig in the ribs with his foot.

"Get up," he said.

She glared at him, and began pushing herself to her feet.

Eric grinned and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder with ease. Emily sighed.

"It this just a way to prove your manly strength to the whole lab?" She asked, noting the appreciating and somewhat jealous stares from the female lab techs.

Eric grinned, also noting the stares. "Yes. You should feel honored to be a part of my demonstration."

Emily whacked him on the back of the head.

Horatio walked up. "Stop fooling around you two."

Eric grinned and followed Horatio, Emily still slung over his shoulder.

Horatio smiled as they got on the elevator.

"Eric, put me down!" Emily whined.

"Nope." Eric said, matter-of-factly.

Emily whacked him on the back of the head again. Eric grinned, completely unfazed.

"So where are we going?" She asked Horatio, as the elevators opened in the main lobby.

"Back to the Gordon's house," Horatio answered. "Philip Gordon was carrying his own murder weapon."

"Oh. Okay." Emily said.

They reached the Hummer, where Eric unceremoniously dumped Emily in the back seat.

"Hey! Why can't I have shotgun?" She said. Eric stuck his tongue out at her from the front seat.

"Emily, stop whining," Horatio said, although he was smiling. "And Eric, act your age for once please."

Emily poked Eric. Eric poked Emily back.

Horatio rolled his eyes and drove on.

They reached the Gordon's house with little difficulty.

Emily busied herself with looking at the kitchen knives, while Horatio and Eric talked to the Gordons.

She sprayed the knife with Luminol and watched as the blade turned a bright purple color as the chemical reacted with the blood. She examined the knife for a minute.

"Horatio," she called, carefully holding up the knife. "I've got blood."

He nodded to her and turned back to Mr. Gordon.

"I think you killed your brother."

Emily listened quietly to Gordon and Horatio, talking as she bagged the evidence.

She had known that Philip Gordon had lived with his brother and sister-in-law, and that the sister-in-law had been a brief suspect, however, she never expected Gordon to kill his own brother.

She did not condone the vandalism and felt very sorry for the miscarriage Mrs. Gordon had experienced, but she also did not think killing his brother was very good for Mr. Gordon to do.

As they left the house and went back to the Crime lab, she remained deep in thought, and quite silent.

Horatio sighed as he watched Mr. Gordon be led away in handcuffs. He felt sorry for the man, although he could not condone the man's actions.

He looked over at Emily who stood rather stiffly beside him. Her green eyes were keenly watching the scene unfolding before her. She appeared deep in thought.

He touched her shoulder gently.

"You okay?"

She started slightly and looked up at him.

"Just a little confused."

"About what?"

"About whether I should feel sorry for him or whether I should just regard him as another murderer. I mean, the stress from the vandalism and everything caused the death of a child, but he could've found another way to deal with the problem…"

Horatio squeezed Emily's shoulder, stemming the flow of words.

"Cases like this happen. Don't let it get to you," He said with a smile, hoping that his words would be encouraging.

Emily nodded as Ryan and Calleigh walked up.

"Who's up for dinner?" Calleigh asked as she leaned on Horatio.

"I am!" Emily piped up eagerly.

Ryan nodded. "I'll go get Eric."

"No need for that," came a familiar voice. "I'm here," Eric said.

Emily smiled as Ryan draped his arm over her shoulders and squeezed in a brotherly way. She leaned against him for support and the team walked out to their cars, each feeling encouraged by the presence of the others.

THE END!


End file.
